So Open Your Eyes
by So Just Smile
Summary: And she liked to think that they were simply day dreams, but they are so much more.
1. Prologue

**So.Just.Smile: Disclaimer:** Okay, I don't own Naruto, the only thing I own is my OC and her story.

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**Prologue:** Tachibana Hiromi

It was getting a lot easier, now. They didn't come at me so suddenly, like a ton of bricks. Now they came softly, trickling into my mind, allowing me to adjust. I slid a bit down into my seat, a small and dreamy smile coming to my lips. I blinked slowly, my orange eyes only opening half way with a distant look in them, glowing. All things around me changed, becoming out of focus, their colors becoming obscured until they were nothing more than a mixture of grays. I rested my chin on the palm of my hands and gave a whispered sigh, calmly letting the images pass.

"_Okay, see here, Ayame?" A man with black hair asked to a young girl._

"_Hai, otou-san," the girl smiled in awe, shaking her brunette hair as she giggled._

"_Now all you have to do is stir it all together for a few minutes," the man said, demonstrating as he stirred a big pot of ramen. The room was hot with the steam and delicious fumes rising from the black bowl._

"_Here, why don't you try, Ayame," the man suggested, grabbing his child's hands and placing them on the wooden spoon. The girl gasped and her eyes widened in delight. She stuck her tongue out in concentration just as her eyes narrowed in determination. The man smiled and wrapped his hands around the smaller, softer ones of Ayame's._

_Ayame looked up at her father and smiled, then turned back to the pot in front of her and stirred the bowl of noodles with all her might, determined to mix the ingredients to perfection._

The vision faded, and I came back to reality. There was a fleeting sensation of wholeness and tranquility and love. The area around me came into focus, the bright colors returning, changing from their previous grays.

My eyes opened to normal capacity as I glanced at my surroundings. Not even two minutes seem to have passed. I sighed and dug into the bowl of ramen in front of me. I knew that this bowl of noodles is what triggered the dream, I also knew that the people I had daydreamed about were the owners of this ramen shop—Ichiraku Ramen Shop—Ayame and Teuchi.

I've always known they were more than simple daydreams, deep down, I knew. But I refused to accept that truth, so I masked it with simple daydreams. It made life simpler, but life is almost never simple. When I found out the truth, I knew it was never going to be simple. It was never going to be easy, either.

Because I see things, my life could never be that of an ordinary kunoichi. I could be a weapon, a most powerful one if I managed to control my ability. I wouldn't allow it. That's why, no one knows. That's why I don't allow myself to know.

This is me, Tachibana Hiromi, seer, creating my story.

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Okay, well, this is my first story, or actually, my first posted story. Just thought that that should be known, and I apologize in advance if some chapters or parts get a bit icky. I, myself, hate it when my writing isn't working to it's full potential and is extremely crappy, so sorry. I usually try to get it up to my standards until I make the chapters final. Okay, well, till the next chapter. -So.Just.Smile 


	2. Chapter 1

**So.Just.Smile:** Woo, first chapter. I try to make my chapters at least nine to ten pages long, if not more, so, yeah, don't know why I said/wrote that. Whatever. Okay, well, without further ado, Chapter One.

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**Chapter One:** Team

I never really pay attention in class. I try to, really, I do, but I tend to get unfocused. It doesn't help matters that class is usually boring as hell. I suppose it doesn't matter what school you go to, where it is, what they teach, or who the teacher's are, it always ends up being boring in some way.

Sometimes, I think it might just be me, because almost all of the other kids are great in class. Maybe I have ADD or something. It's a possibility, isn't it? It sure would be an answer. I mean, next to my short-attention span, I'm not that motivated in many things, accept playing around or daydreaming.

Anyway, the point is, I don't pay attention in class, which is why I probably have no clue as to what team I'm on. It's lunch and I'm kind of panicking. But then, my teammates might find me, if they're not a bunch of assholes. Iruka advised all teams to eat together, to get to know each other—but knowing my luck, they probably didn't even know who I was, and even if they did, I'm kind of a loser outcast loner anyway.

I sighed and walked out of the academy, following all the kids that were ahead of me, walking in groups of three or four. There's normally only three genin to a team, led by a jounin, but this year, there were far too many students, mainly girls, so there were teams of four and teams of three.

_Dear Kami, I sure hope I have a team of three. Four would just slow down the team, and be a hassle. More damn people to put up with. Oh, no, what if I get stuck with a fangirl! Or worse, what if I get stuck with Sasuke __**and**__ a fangirl? Oh, the horror._

I was stunned at this new realization. It was then, that I became determined to find out who my teammates were. I suppose I was so concentrated that I wasn't watching where I was going, because before I knew it, I was stumbling backwards because I had hit someone or something.

"Ow, I hit my head against something hard," I mumbled.

"Yeah, my head," I heard a familiar voice say.

I looked up and Uzumaki Naruto. I smiled and gave a short wave to him, he repeated the gesture. We're friends, not close friends, but friends nonetheless.

"Sorry, Naruto, I wasn't looking were I was going," I apologized.

"That's okay," he grinned.

I nodded, "Okay, well, then I'll be going."

I saw him nod as his smile faltered. I felt guilty, so I decided to ask him to lunch.

"Naruto, wanna have lunch with me?"

"Sure," he grinned.

I knew where he would want to go. Ichiraku Ramen Shop, it's the very store we first met at. We were both five at the time.

I think I was his first friend.

I know he was mine.

-:-

"You're going to actually do that?" I asked as I slurped up the last of my ramen. I was only on my third bowl, Naruto was on his sixth. He always ate twice as much as I did.

"Yup," he said through a mouthful of noodles. "I was hoping you would help me," he said, wiping his mouth.

"Uh, sure, I mean, if you want me to," I mumbled shyly. I was never really a social person; in fact, I think Naruto is one of my only friends. Maybe he's my only friend. That makes me a bit of a loser, doesn't it?

"Cool," Naruto grinned. "Well, if we wanna catch him, we better go now." He rose from his seat. I followed him back to the school after I paid Ayame.

-:-

"So, where do we go?" I asked as we jumped to the highest part of the academy.

"Well, I'm not sure. We have to find him first…Ah ha! There he is," he whispered, pointing toward the raven haired boy leaning against a window. "Come on," he whispered before jumping across to the building.

I rolled my eyes at his antics, but followed. We were easing ourselves against the wall when I saw them: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji. Shikamaru pointed at us nonchalantly, causing Ino and Chouji to look our way. I made to signal them to mind their own business, but I guess they didn't care about me, because they just kept watching. I ignored them as I jumped into the room after Naruto. It only took a few second before Naruto was tied up.

_Well, I guess Sasuke is still superior._

I watched from the shadows as the scene unfolded. Just as I was about to go untie Naruto, he turned into a log.

_Kawarimi no jutsu, smart move Naruto. Now what will you do?_

With Sasuke still a bit surprised and shocked that Naruto, the dead-last loser, had evaded him, Naruto jumped and took Sasuke down easily, with the help of a few clones. I walked out from my hiding place and congratulated Naruto on the success of his prank.

"Nice job, Naruto. See, you didn't even need my help," I patted him on the back.

"Heh, heh, well, all I really need you to do is stay here and watch the teme for me, okay?" He asked.

"Sure, okay," and before I could say anything else, Naruto thanked me, transformed into Sasuke, and jumped out the window. "Why didn't he use the door?"

I sighed and sat down, crossing my legs. It was kind of awkward just sitting there having Sasuke glare at me. I mean, it was Uchiha Sasuke. All I have to say is he is kind of cute, okay, not just that, he is smart, too. What kind of girl **doesn't** want a smart and hot guy?

"So…Hi Sasuke," I gave a short, pathetic wave at him.

Sasuke didn't say anything; he couldn't with the piece of tape around his mouth. But, then, he didn't even move to show he had heard me. Despite his hotness, he was a real asshole.

One whole minute passed, and at the end of that minute, I swear, I was gonna keel over from boredom. So, to attempt to cure my endless boredom, I ripped off the tape from Sasuke's mouth. He yelped. I smiled. I had made the Uchiha Sasuke, prodigy, scream. That's cool.

"Sorry," I said meekly. I could never be myself around anyone, really; I always feel as if I have something I have to hide. Not to mention I used to like Sasuke a bit. Of course, I've long ago given up pursuit of his feelings (not that there actually was a pursuit, I didn't even try to get him to notice me); he's only got one thing on his mind, and though I don't know what it is, I know it's not girls or love.

"So…I guess you want me to untie you, huh?" I looked at him, attempting to get him to talk or do something. He just kept glaring at me.

_Damn him and his evil-death-glare-of-doom._

"Yeah, okay, I understand. You probably hate my guts, even though I haven't really done anything, which I guess is about as bad as helping Naruto out in the first place, because I'm not untying you or anything. And if you don't hate me for that, then you probably hate me for being fangirl, and even if you don't know I'm a fangirl, you'll assume so, because almost all of the girls in your class and in the school that know you or have seen you are fangirls. Well, I'm not a fangirl," I said, finishing up my rant.

"Untie me," he said slowly, not bothering to hide the annoyance and anger in his voice.

"Uh, what will you do to me if I do? I mean, will you, like, hurt me or anything?" I asked suspiciously, though I was a bit glad that he actually talked.

I saw his eye give the slightest twitch and felt myself struggle not to grin. I don't know why, but I suddenly found it quite enjoyable if I could annoy him.

"No," he strained.

"Okay," I smiled and pulled a kunai out of mid-air it seemed. I quickly jumped up and slashed the ropes binding him open. "You know, I know that you could have gotten out of those ropes on your own. Why didn't you?" I asked, looking at him curiously.

"Hn," was all he said before walking out the door. I silently followed him, wondering where he was going, and with nothing better to do.

A few minutes passed, and all we had been doing was walking through the academy halls. I began to think Sasuke either had no clue as to where he was going, or he was trying to lose me. If it was the former, well, it just doesn't seem likely, yet, if it was the latter, he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" I asked him eventually. He didn't speak for a second, but then—

"Do you know where Naruto went?"

"Oh, yeah—" I didn't get to say anything else, because Sasuke was on me fast. He turned around quickly as if to threaten me or something. The freak.

"Where is he?"

_Gosh, you could at least say please._

"Uh, I think he's outside." _Because I think that's where Sakura is._

Sasuke went back to ignoring me and quickly made for the academy exit. I simply followed, fearing what he might do to Naruto if he found him, and curious as to what he was up to.

Eventually we were walking outside. I spotted a tuft of pink hair a ways down the road and flinched involuntarily. What would Haruno, the biggest Sasuke fangirl next to Ino, do if she found me and Sasuke walking together? I mean, one wouldn't think anything of it, because Sasuke was totally ignoring me and it just seemed like we were walking on the same road, but Sakura was a fangirl—and when their as obsessed and possessive as she is—their brains tend to think differently and their eyes tend to process different images.

But I was surprised, because when we reached Sakura, she completely ignored me. I thought for sure she would have yelled at me for walking with or being anywhere nears 'her Sasuke-kun.' No, instead, she began to talk to Sasuke as if he had been talking to her before.

"Sasuke, you're back!" She squealed. I twitched. "Don't be so shy you bad boy," she giggled. I held back the urge to vomit. Even when I really liked Sasuke, I'd never acted like that. "Are you ready now? You know, mentally prepared? Because I am, I mean, I'm rearing to go!"

_What is she __**talking**__ about? _I stare at her, confused.

"Hey, wait a minute," she yells as Sasuke walks past her. I turn around so that I'm walking backwards, but still walking next to Sasuke, so I can watch Sakura.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asks, obviously demanding an answer, but sure he won't get one.

Sakura smiles, "Oh, there you go changing the subject again. Anyway, Naruto just picks fights with you," she glared at nothing in particular.

"No, he doesn't," I mumbled angrily—though I don't think anyone heard me—because Naruto's my friend and sometimes Sasuke provokes him.

"You know why he's so annoying? Cause he wasn't raised right. He doesn't have a mother or father," she continued. I stared at her. What she was saying, it hurt.

_Shut up…_

"No one to teach him right from wrong," Sakura shook her head. "Think about it, he just does whatever jumps into his head," she looked at Sasuke. I began to glare at Sakura unintentionally. I noticed Sasuke had stopped looking around and was now paying attention to Sakura.

_Shut up…!_

"If I did things like Naruto, forget it. I mean, my parents would get mad and I'd get in trouble," she spoke so casually. My hands formed into fists.

_What does she know? Nothing!_

"So of course I don't do it," she concluded. Sasuke eye's narrowed. "But if you don't have parents to tell you, how will you know?"

_Idiot! Your precious Sasuke doesn't have parents either, don't you know that?! And…neither…neither do I…_

"He's selfish and bratty. He's all alone," she finally finished.

"Shut up," I whispered angrily. Sakura gasped, just noticing me. I lifted my eyes from the ground and stared into her green ones. "You will silence yourself." My eye began to glow the slightest bit, I didn't notice it—I felt it.

"Alone," Sasuke finally spoke. Sakura immediately turned to him, but I kept my gaze locked on her. "Isolated. It's not about your parents scolding you. You have no idea what it means to be alone."

"Wha—why are you saying that?" Sakura gasped. My glare intensified and I took a step backwards, knowing I had to get away from this infuriating girl.

"Because, you're annoying," he glared at her. I let out a frustrated sigh before turning around and walking back to the academy.

I didn't even notice Sasuke walking beside me. I kept my orange eyes on the ground, my hands still in fists, with my mouth mumbling small senseless fragments from the many thoughts running through my mind.

"Stupid girl. What does she know? Nothing, that's what. Should prank her—but that'd be mean. What do I care? Her and her stupid, stupid words! Stupid, salmon-haired, vomit-eyed girl…She doesn't know anything…" I ended whispering.

Before I knew it, I was already in the school. My anger was beginning to fade. I looked behind me as I finally felt a presence besides my own. It was Sasuke. I slowed down and waited for him to catch up to me.

"Hi…Hey, do you know what team I'm on? I wasn't really paying attention, so I was hoping you would know? I mean, I wouldn't ask you really, but you're the only one here and—" Sasuke cut me off.

"You're on my team," he stated, not even sparing me a glance.

"Oh," I said, not comprehending the true meaning of this. A second later, my eyes widened and I repeated the same word louder and with more confidence, "Oh…Well, then, so you know, I'm gonna be your friend then. Teammates are all about teamwork and I feel for teamwork, we have to be on the same level of understanding-ness stuff. So, I'm gonna be your friend, even if you don't want me to," I smiled.

I felt Sasuke take a glance at me and then look up as Naruto came running out of a door suddenly. I watched him come running toward Sasuke and I.

"Ah," he gasped. Sliding right in front of us, he spoke, "Sasuke, what are you doing here? How did you get loose?"

"Hiromi let me go," he nodded to me.

_Wow, he actually knows my name? Huh, I guess I just figured he wouldn't. I suppose he's not that bad._

"What?! Hiromi, why'd you do that?" Naruto looked at me.

"Oh, me?" I yawned. "Yeah, I got bored. I let him go hoping he would do something interesting."

"Aw," Naruto groaned.

"Why'd you do that? Transform into me?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"I thought it'd be fun to try out my moves on you, so I did," Naruto stated. He jumped back a step and performed a jutsu. Before I could blink, there were five Naruto's ready to pounce Sasuke.

I yawned.

"Augh, the same technique again?" Sasuke groaned.

"This time you'll see what I can really do," one of the Naruto's spoke. "You're going down for the count," another one stated. "Then you'll have to admit that I'm better," a third one finished before they all leapt in for the kill.

"Get ready Sasuke," a fourth one yelled as they got closer. Just as they were about to close in on Sasuke, they fell back, clutching their stomachs, mumbling all at the same time.

I watched them lazily. I yawned again, being angry makes me tired, that's why I don't like it. All of the Naruto's turned and ran back around toward the door that Naruto first came out of. They all began to fight over who went first, shoving and pushing, begging and pleading.

"What a loser," I mumbled before yawning and turning around. Hey, I might be Naruto's friend, but that doesn't mean I'm the nicest person around. The fact that I was suddenly very tired and just got out of a very angry state of mind did not help.

I took a glance at Sasuke as I realized we had said the same thing at the same time. I gave a small smile as I began to gain my energy back. I'm not sure, but I think I saw his lip twitch.

I think he wanted to smile.


	3. Chapter 2

**So.Just.Smile:** All right, chapter two. Eh, not much to say. I only have four chapters typed up on Word, so... . After I put those up, it may take a while to update. Other than that, I _do_ want to try a little romance, but I'm not sure if I can really express that, nor do I know what pairing I would want. Hm, well, readers, you have opinions, express them and help me out. Lots of Love :)

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**Chapter Two:** Teammates

Okay, you might not think I have a lot of patience, but in most situations, I do, really. But this—this was too much. It'd already been an hour or two and I was super bored. I didn't even feel like daydreaming, drawing, or writing a short story—I was basically too bored to even move.

The last team had been taken an hour and a half ago. A half hour after the last team left, Iruka-sensei did, too. It wasn't until the last team, Shikamaru's team, left that I found out Naruto and Sakura were also on my team, along with Sasuke of course.

I was unhappy, I admit, to have a four-man team. I wasn't the only one, I know, but I had Sakura. I was still pissed at her for what had happened earlier at lunch. I was glad to have Naruto and my team along with Sasuke, though. Naruto was my friend and Sasuke was an awesome ninja.

_Man, so bored. Hm, what to do?_

I looked around the room and finally came up with an idea. I smirked as I rose from my desk with a determined look. I walked down from my seat over to my sensei's desk. My smirk widened as I eased myself into his nice, comfy chair.

_His chair's a hell of a lot more comfy than any of the desks._

I immediately attacked the drawers. I opened each one, looking for something interesting: detentions, notes on kids, school records, grades, something! It took a while, but I found it. Something very interesting. The bottom left corner. I opened the drawer, quickly flipping through the few books there were. I was about to place the two journals back in the drawer—they were filled with nothing but old papers that needed to be thrown away—when I spotted the bright orange paper.

I raised an eyebrow when I saw it. All the papers I had seen were white and all the journals were some dark color like blue or black, so why was there such a brightly colored object here, hidden? I gasped when I read the title, then I smiled evilly, like a Cheshire cat.

_Icha Icha? Iruka sensei is a perv…Heh heh, can anyone say blackmail…_

I began to chuckle, which brought forth the attention of my teammates. They hadn't even noticed me rummaging through Iruka-sensei's desk. Sakura had been berating Naruto for 'bothering' Sasuke, while Sasuke was provoking Naruto just to see him get hurt by Sakura.

I heard Sakura gasp before she spoke, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"My names Hiromi," I sighed, "and what does it look like I'm doing? I'm reading a book."

"You're going through Iruka-sensei's things," Sakura accused me.

I mocked a gasp, "What? Well, how dare you; I am doing no such thing. I'm simply reading Iruka-sensei's Icha Icha book that I found in his desk, while I was looking through it."

I grinned as Sakura stammered angrily, unsure of what to do. She beat on Naruto all the time, but she didn't really know me, she didn't know what I would do, how I would react, or what I would say to her. I guess she finally picked a way to approach the situation however, because she began to talk to me again.

"Hiromi, could you please hand me the book?" she asked sweetly. It scared me a bit.

"Why?" I asked, not looking up from the page I was reading.

"So that I can put it back in Iruka-sensei's desk," she said, the sweetness still within.

"Why?" I repeated, only half-listening to her answers. I just wanted to annoy her.

"Because I don't want you or any of us to get in trouble for going through Iruka-sensei's desk," she said, though her voice was strained.

I finally looked up at her and smirked, "How 'bout no, dobe?"

She lost it. She may as well have attacked me or something; I know that's what she wanted to do. Her eye twitched before both of them filled with the fire of anger. Her face contorted into a full-blown glare. Oh, if looks could kill.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she made her way to me. I slowly stood from the chair I was in. I backed up into the corner of the room. Sakura kept closing in on me, not faltering at all. Both Naruto and Sasuke were simply watching.

_Why isn't Naruto-baka helping me?!_

I quickly looked for a way out, but found none. It was hopeless. My back hit the wall. I looked around and smirked. In a matter of seconds, Sakura pounced, but I was far from her grasps. She was confused for a second, but after looking around for a second, she found me hanging from the roof.

I must admit, I'm not the greatest kunoichi ever, but one thing I excelled at was chakra control. It helps, because I like to climb things: trees, walls, etcetera. The chakra control is to help out and keep me reassured that I'm mostly safe.

"How did you…?" Sakura trailed off.

I began to blush when I read the next page. It didn't really help that most of this book was mainly a graphic novel, emphasis on the 'graphic.'

She gave an exasperated sigh and was just about to start another goody-two-shoes rant when she spotted Naruto. He was placing a chalkboard eraser between the door and doorframe.

I ignored what happened from there, simply walking around the roof, reading Iruka-sensei's book. I tried to reach the eraser Naruto had put up at one point, and found I could do so easily. I ginned evilly as I thought of just grabbing the eraser and flinging it at the next person to come into the room, but decided not to wait for that indefinite amount of time. So, I went back to reading the Icha Icha book, despite it being based around porn, the storyline was very good and played out very well. I mean, I didn't expect for Ai to fall for Ryuu when she was with Kyo, who was totally hot.

_Then again, Ryuu isn't too bad in the looks department either._

My attention was attracted, however, when a tuft off silvery hair entered the room, lazily allowing the eraser to plop onto their cranium. I smiled—not because of the prank, but because of his hair. His hair was all anti-gravity and springy, it was begging for me to touch it. Before I could, though, he spoke.

"Hm," he picked up the chalkboard eraser. "How do I put this? My first impression of this group…"He put the eraser down rubbed his chin. "…I hate you."

The other's sweat dropped and I grinned as I reached for his hair. It was all poof! He lazily tilted his head up to look at me.

"Hi," I smiled, the grin reaching my eyes.

"Hello," he replied politely.

"I like your hair, it's all poof and anti-gravity and stuff," I smiled, and stopped touching his silver hair. "And the color is cool, too."

"Thanks, I like your hair, too," he smiled. At least I think he smiled, his mask hid it, but his eye turned up, so yeah, I'm pretty sure he smiled.

-:-

They formed their own little group, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, sitting on the rooftop. I stayed alone, leaning against one of the many trees. Our new sensei leaned against the railing that surrounded the entire rooftop. I was reading Iruka-sensei's book. I had completely forgotten to put it back, so I decided to give it to him later.

I put the book away, in my kunai holster, as the jounin began to speak, "Why don't you all introduce yourselves.

"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura repeated dumbly. "What are we supposed to say?"

I almost laughed as I noticed that I had daydreamed this earlier. Wanting to stir a little trouble, I spoke:

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, and hobbies. Things like that," I finished, looking up at the sky through the tree's branches.

"Exactly," the jounin backed me up.

"Well, why don't you go first, sensei? That way we'll know how it's done," Naruto suggested.

"Me?" the jounin asked, pointing toward his self. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes…I don't feel like telling you that."

This time, I did laugh. Everybody gave me a quick glance, before going back to Kakashi-sensei.

_He ain't gonna tell us shit._ I really didn't know for sure, but I got the feeling.

"Dreams for the future? Well, I never really thought about it. My hobbies…? I have many hobbies," he finished. "Okay, you first," Kakashi said, pointing at Naruto.

"Believe it. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei and Hiromi get me at Ichiraku Noodle Shop. But I really hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will quit disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important," he said as he adjusted his headband.

I smiled. Naruto was one of the most innocent kids ever. In certain ways. He could be a complete perv with that Oiroke no Jutsu.

"All right, next," Kakashi said **so** enthusiastically. Note the sarcasm.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. What I like, uh, I mean, the person I like is…"she ended up blushing as she threw glances at Sasuke.

_Wonderful, simply wonderful. Hey, what's that?_

"My hobbies are…" she glanced at Sasuke and giggled while blushing.

_It's a stick…what the hell can I do with a stick…Poke._

"My dream for the future is to…" Sakura trailed off as she looked at Sasuke, where she then squealed and blushed.

I looked toward my teammates. This could prove to be extremely amusing. I held back a giggle as I moved closer to the pink haired girl. She had just stuttered about something, glancing at Sasuke before squealing.

_Like a pig,_ I thought, disgusted by her behavior.

"And…?"Kakashi prodded. "What do you hate?"

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled. Naruto sweat dropped, becoming very, very sad.

_Ouch, harsh. That's another strike against her._

"O…kay. Next one," Kakashi continued, looking from me to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, come on, your turn," I said, poking him with the stick I found. He turned around to glare at me. "I believe I must inform you, that your super-ultra-death-glare-of-doom no longer works on me," I stated proudly. After becoming teammates, I concluded that he could no longer harm me, because people don't hurt their teammates.

"Now, come on," I poked him. "It's your turn, damn it!"

"Quit poking Sasuke! You're just like Naruto!" Sakura yelled at me. I slowly turned to face her with a blank face.

"Am not," I poked her in the head.

"Ah! Don't poke me," she screamed and grabbed the stick. She instantly broke in two and threw them at me. With my awesomely cool ninja skills, I caught them. I stared at them sadly in my hands.

"Aw, why'd you have to go and do that?" I asked unhappily. Quickly, my frown melted into a smile, though, as I gripped a stick in either hand. Snickering, I poked Sakura and Sasuke at the same time. Naruto was laughing, too, now. I glanced at my blonde friend, pleased that I brought a smile to his face.

"Stop poking me," Sasuke growled. Sakura was fuming.

"Say please," I grinned at him slyly. He continued to glare.

"Stop it."

"Make me."

"Fine," he growled and reached for the stick I was poking him with.

"No, it's mine," I whined as I tried to pry it from my hand. I instantly began to hit him on the head with the other half of the stick. He growled. I slowly grabbed the two sticks and backed away.

Trying desperately not to laugh—but failing terribly—I spoke, "Okay, I'll go first."

Sakura and Sasuke turned away, glaring. Naruto calmed down and stopped laughing.

"My name's Takahashi Hiromi," I sneaked back up to Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi was watching the entire time; I think he was trying not to smile. Naruto wasn't doing a thing to contain his laughter.

"I like sensei's hair, writing, drawing, and training. I dislike…uh…huh, what do I dislike?" I pulled out the two sticks.

"Oh, I dislike being sad and/or angry. My hobbies include drawing, training, writing, and currently," I began to poke Sasuke and Sakura in the head, "poking Sasuke and Sakura in the head."

The two growled and quickly snatched the two twigs from my hands and tossed them over the building.

"Well, so much for that hobby," I walked back to the tree and began to tug at a small branch. "As for my dream for the future…well, right now, I want to find another stick to poke Sakura and Sasuke with."

"Great," Kakashi smiled. "Last one," he signaled to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I **will** make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Everything and everyone was quiet. "You have to be all dramatic, don't you?"

All heads turn toward me. "Yeah, well, I'm going to use this stick to shove all your dramatic-ness stuff up your ass…After I poke you…Poke…Poke," I poked him with the new twig I pulled from the tree.

He gave a very exasperated sigh and grabbed the stick. "No, I already old you, it's **mine**! Quit stealing my fun!"

"Quit poking me!"

"It's mine!"

We held up our tug-a-war battle on the stick until it broke. "Look what you did!" I yelled.

You know what Sasuke did then? He smirked. Of all the things…He smirked! And then he continued to break his half of the stick into small pieces. I could just watch in horror.

"You broke it! You crushed my dreams! You crush them so hard!" I sulked, but then grew angry. "You asshole," I muttered angrily before pouting. After Asshole turned around, I stuck my tongue at him. What? He deserves to be punished in such a childish way.

"Ahem," Kakashi coughed, which brought our attention to him. "Well, that's good. You're all unique and have different ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto saluted.

"It's a task that the four of us will do together," Kakashi drawled.

"What, what, what?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Shut up and we'll find out, idiot," I scolded him, knocking him forward as I placed my foot on the back of his head.

"A survival exercise," Kakashi stated simply.

_That's all? Damn, I was hoping for something…well…just something different._

"Huh, survivals exercise?" Naruto asked stupidly.

"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice," Sakura complained. "We already did this stuff at the academy, that's how we got here."

"This is not like your previous training," Kakashi informed us.

_What does he mean not like our previous training? What's this guy up to? He's hiding something from us._

"So, what kind of training is it, then?" I asked, getting a bit serious. Hey, I _can_ be serious, okay?

You know what Kakashi-sensei did? He laughed. He chuckled and snickered and just seemed to laugh at me.

"Aw, man. Why do people always laugh at me?" I mumbled.

"Hey, hold on, that's a normal question. What's so funny?" Sakura asked, actually defending me.

"Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it," Kakashi chuckled.

"How the Hell do you know that? Just tell us, because you're going to anyway and if you don't tell us, we won't like that either. It's basically a lose-lose situation, if what you say is true," I said. Kakashi stared at me for second or two, but then spoke.

"Of the twenty-eight graduates who just came here, only nine to twelve will actually be accepted as genin. The others will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make-it-or-break-it, pass/fail test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty percent," Kakashi stated darkly.

"What?" I asked indignantly.

"You see, didn't I tell you that you wouldn't like it?"

"What? That's crazy!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah, crazy," I added, just because I was a bit miffed at this new info.

"We worked hard to get here, believe it!" he finished.

"What the Hell was that graduation test for anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, that? That was just a test to select the candidates that _might_ become genin…or not," he smiled.

"What?!" Naruto yelled.

"That's how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at five am. Bring your ninja gear," Kakashi stated, as if that was the end of the conversation.

_I did not pay attention in class all those few times just to be 'weeded out.' I will pass._ I thought, determined.

"That's it, you're dismissed. Oh, tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else…you'll puke."

"Skip…breakfast…? But…it's the most important meal of the day," I whined to myself, already knowing that nobody would pay attention to me.


	4. Chapter 3

**So.Just.Smile:** Okay, so you know, I do have a basic plot thought out, but I'm not sure if I wish to elaborate it or not...Hm, decisions, decisions. I **do** want to make it more complex, I'm just not sure of _how_. Eh, maybe something will come to me. On to Chapter Three!

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**Chapter Three:** Surviving!

I didn't wake up at five. I woke up a whole two hours later. I got dressed in my usual clothes (knowing that these were clean, because I'd just washed them) after I took a shower. I ate a nice healthy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and orange juice and actually did the dishes.

Then…I left. To the academy. I had to give Iruka his book back. Not bothering to knock, I entered my old classroom and went to Iruka's desk. He looked up at me from a folder with profiles on kids, surprised.

He looked confused for a second before smiling. "What are you doing here, Hiromi? Shouldn't you be with your team and new sensei?"

"Oh, yeah, not right now, though. I have to give this back to you…first," I mumbled as I searched through my pack. "Aha, here it is," I said, handing him his Icha Icha book back.

His eye twitched. "No, Hiromi, I think you're mistaken—"

"No, it's yours. At least, I found it in your desk, so you might want to put it back there if it actually isn't yours," I gave him a cheesy grin.

His eye twitched again. "You went through my desk?"

"Uh, yeah, about that…," I chuckled nervously. "You see…uh…well…BYE IRUKA-SENSEI!" I yelled as I ran out of his classroom.

I slowed down once I was out of the academy. The sun was just barely rising over the horizon. Smiling, I slowly made my way to the training grounds. To say the least, my teammates were not happy with me, then again, I was three hours late.

"YOU'RE LATE, HIROMI!!!" could be heard for miles. I swear, it's true.

"Eh heh, well you see," I chuckled, rubbing the back of my head nervously, "it just so happens that I got lost on the road of life." I don't know where that excuse came from, the words just floated into my head and my mouth automatically said them, but damn, that was a good excuse.

"Sensei said to be here at five," Sakura yawned. I stared at her blankly. _Little goody two shoes._

"Yeah, well, Kakashi-sensei also said not to eat breakfast, but I didn't follow that rule either," I commented a bit smugly. She looked like she was going to get really pissed, but seemed to decide it was too much work, so she and Naruto just huffed and puffed before sitting back down on the ground, tired.

I sighed and lay down on the grass, though not from exhaustion, like my comrades. I just wanted to look at the sky as it changed colors, though there wasn't much; sky was already nearly completely blue.

Eventually, the entire sky was set to a nice, calm blue, sprinkled with spots of white fluffy clouds. It was at that time, when the sun was nice and high, when Kakashi decided to show up. He, too, got a scolding from Sakura and Naruto.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way," he smiled as he spoke his excuse. I think it was better than mine.

"Morning sensei," I chirped happily just to tick Sakura and Naruto off. They were so sleepy.

"Good morning, Hiromi," Kakashi replied happily, smiling.

"It's not even morning anymore," Sakura grumbled.

"Well, moving on," Kakashi chuckled nervously before Naruto and Sakura could start huffing and puffing again. Placing a timer onto a stump he spoke, "Here we go. It's set for noon."

My eyes grew big and my ears rang as he pulled out three really shiny and pretty bells. _So shiny…_I have a bit of a liking for shiny objects.

"Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all that's to it," Kakashi jingled the very shiny objects. "If you can't get them by noon, you get no lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch as I eat lunch in front of you."

I snickered as I heard Naruto's, Sakura's, and Sasuke's stomachs growl. They may as well have thrown kunai at me with the glares I got from them.

"Hey, hold it. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but even I know that there are four of us and only three bells. Why?" I asked suspiciously, mostly just to look smart and cool. I don't think it worked.

"That way at least one of you will end up on a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission," he smiled. "That one goes back to the academy."

"Oh," I said oh-so-very smartly. _That doesn't seem right, nor does it seem fair._

"Then again, all three of you could flunk out, too," Kakashi continued. "You can use any weapon, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to get the bells."

"Those weapons are too dangerous, sensei," Sakura spoke up.

Naruto laughed," Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser."

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links," Kakashi directed toward Naruto. "You can safely ignore them. Lowest scores. Losers."

"Ouch," I winced. "Harsh."

"When I say start, you can begin," Kakashi said calmly as Naruto fumed. I stepped aside, knowing he was going to attack. Instantly, he pulled out a kunai and went at Kakashi. It wasn't cool, to call him a loser. I know what it feels like, and it hurts. Kakashi easily blocked him, pulled his arm around him so that the kunai was behind Naruto's head.

"Don't be in such a hurry, I didn't say start yet," Kakashi smiled. Naruto growled and Kakashi let him go. "Well, you came at me with the full intention to kill, so—how can I say this—I'm actually starting to like you guys," Kakashi said.

"Get ready…and…start!" In a flash, I was alone in front of Kakashi.

Dumbly, I slowly looked to my right…_Nothing there_…then left…_No one there either._

"Eh heh," I chuckled nervously. Luckily, Naruto popped out of nowhere and distracted Kakashi for me. Quickly, using my awesome ninja skills, I raced into the foliage of the forest. After I was a way away from that clearing and in another, I sat under a tree and began to plan.

"Man, how the hell do I get a bell from a freaking jounin? Damn, I'm definitely going back to the academy. Man, this sucks."

_Eh, when push comes to shove, I get shoved._ I sighed and lay down to look at the clouds. A few minutes later, there was a loud and high-pitched scream that instantly made me stand up after I was already half-asleep.

"What the hell was that…?" I mumbled. Standing up, I yawned and stretched. I smiled. That was nice. I breathed a deep breath and exhaled, smiling lazily. Deciding that if it was going to be do or die, I wasn't going to die without a fight. Of course, it would be a fight that I would most likely lose very quickly.

Hearing someone talking, I walked closer until I found some people. It was just through some shrubbery on the other side of the clearing. Hiding in the shadows and foliage, I watched Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Shinobi battle skill number two: the illusion jutsu. Sakura studied it in class, but she still couldn't see it coming," Kakashi spoke so casually.

_Huh, genjutsu then? Sakura really got tricked by a genjutsu? Wow._

"I'm not like Sakura or Naruto, nor am I like Hiromi. I'm not like any of them," Sasuke said bluntly.

_What?! Not like us? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Bitch, you'd be happy as hell to be the tiniest bit like me!_

"Say that after you get one these bells, my Sasuke," Kakashi chuckled. Sasuke turned around to face the jounin.

My heart beat faster as I anticipated the fight. It was always so exciting to watch shinobi fight. _But_…I realized sadly…_Kakashi is a jounin and Sasuke is a genin. Sasuke has only a slim chance of winning and/or getting a bell._

Sasuke pulled out kunai and flung them at Kakashi. Kakashi moved effortlessly out of the way and spoke, "There's no point using normal attacks."

Sasuke flung another kunai that passed by Kakashi quickly and cut a rope. _A trap!_ I thought excitedly.

Several kunai flew at Kakashi at once and slammed stuck into a tree trunk. As Kakashi slid away, Sasuke kicked him, but got blocked. Coming in with a punch—ooh, no chance! Attempting a kick again—no! Now he ended up upside down.

My eyes widened as Sasuke reached out to grab a bell. He touched it—no! Kakashi leaped away from him. I stared at Sasuke.

_Stupid! How could you not grab the bell? Why didn't you keep a proper hold on him? Then again, who am I to berate him like this? I haven't even tried to go up against sensei._

"Well, you are different from the others, I grant you that," Kakashi concluded.

"Hn," Sasuke quickly formed some hand seals before ending in tora. Speaking the jutsu, he actually breathed out fire. My eyes watch, mesmerized by the flames. I always have been a bit of a pyromaniac.

Kakashi was being burned to a crisp! Holy shit! The flames began to fade away and Kakashi was…gone!

_Sensei is very tricky. Yes he is. Should I grace the Uchiha ass with some help?_

A fingerless-gloved hand shot out of the ground and attached itself onto Sasuke's leg!

"Ah! It's attack of the mole people!" I screamed. Nobody noticed. Somebody…please acknowledge my existence...

In a second Sasuke was buried up to his neck in dirt with Kakashi standing over him lecturing. Bummer. I took a step backwards, heading for the clearing behind me, thinking of how I wanted to learn that jutsu sensei just performed, when—

Snap!

—I stepped on a twig. Kakashi stood and looked right at me. _That's scary._ My eye twitched…I ran. Sliding into the other clearing, I found Kakashi. I stared at him and started making gestures with my hands.

"But you—over there with—and the—Sasuke…You're fast."

"Thanks."

"Okay, sensei," I said and got into a fighting stance. "Ready and—oh, who am I kidding? I can't beat you," I let the fighting position go. "Seriously, how do you expect me, a simple genin to beat you, a jounin? For that to happen it would have to take…"

I stopped speaking as I was hit with a sudden revelation. "…Oh…Okay…With the whole team and…stuff."

The bell rang. I blinked dumbly and Kakashi was gone. Sighing at my defeat, I made my way to the others, a bit sad, but a bit happy.

Stomachs growled loudly, mine did too, though not as noisily. I was still a bit full from breakfast, but was growing hungry by the second. I sat next to Sasuke, though a bit away so as to not anger Sakura.

"Uh oh, stomachs growling, huh?" Kakashi said sarcastically, "That's too bad. Oh, by the way, about this exercise? Well, I've decided, I won't send any of you back to the academy."

_What? Why? Why has he changed his mind all of a sudden?_ I questioned silently as the others grew happy.

"Yes, all four of you are being dropped from the program permanently." The cheering stopped. Glares arose with looks of confusion. Sasuke grew cold.

"Dropping us from the program! But that means we can never be ninja," Naruto yelled, his body wiggling against the log he was tied to. "You said if we didn't get a bell we'd be sent back to the academy, you can't just change your mind and kick us out! Why would you do that?"

"Because you don't think like ninja, you think like kids, like brats," Kakashi explained coldly.

Sasuke attacked. He went after Kakashi with a kunai. I watched in excitement. How exciting, how unexpected, this was. Kakashi easily took Sasuke down. How predictable the outcome was.

Kakashi pushed Sasuke to the ground and sat on him.

"Sasuke," Sakura cried.

"You think it's all about you," Kakashi spoke coolly, as if Sasuke hadn't just tried to assassinate him.

"Let go of Sasuke, you can't just step on him like he's some bug!" Sakura screamed.

"You don't know what it means to be ninja," Kakashi continued, ignoring Sakura.

_He's right,_ I looked at the ground. _But I can learn._

"You think it's a game, don't you," Kakashi continued. "Why do you think we put you on squads? Did you consider that question for one moment?"

"I don't know what you mean," Sakura spoke.

"I mean, you never realized what this exercise was about, not even close."

"What it's about?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes, that determines whether you pass or fail."

"But that's, I mean, I wanted to ask you about that from the beginning," Sakura said timidly.

"Tch, use your head. Three people on a squad, why do you think we would do that?" Kakashi asked, giving them as big a clue as he could.

How dense were these people, I mean, I thought for sure that Sakura would've figured it out a long time ago. I figured it out, how could they not?

"Ah! How are we supposed to know why they picked three people? We didn't make the rules," Naruto screamed out in frustration.

I sighed, exasperated that they didn't understand. "Teamwork, it's basic," I spoke sadly, still upset with myself for being so childish and not realizing the purpose of this test sooner.

"Exactly," Kakashi added.

"Just working together, is that what you mean?" Sakura asked both Kakashi and me.

"Yeah, that's it," I sighed. "It's too late now, but if we all had gone at him earlier, together, we might've been able to take him down."

"Exactly. Well, anyway, it's over," Kakashi said in an end-of-conversation tone.

"Hold on, you set it up with four people and only three bells. If we worked together and got the bells only three people would have been able to have them. That would lead to group conflict and the squad would break up," Sakura pointed out.

"Exactly," Kakashi sighed. I sighed too. _She still hasn't figured anything out?_

"He purposefully pitted us against each other," I said before Kakashi could say anything. "He wanted to see if we'd be able to overcome that and put the squad ahead of ourselves."

Maybe I should have been proud that I figured this out, after all, neither Sasuke nor Sakura had. But I didn't. I felt bad for not figuring it out earlier. I could have actually helped the team, then.

"Yes," Kakashi cut in. "A genin should have a natural sense of teamwork, but you, it never even crossed your mind. Sakura, you obsessed about Sasuke while he was gone, even though Naruto was right in front of you. Naruto, you worked all by yourself, not seeking any help. You, Sasuke, believed the other's would be a burden, and worked on your own. Hiromi"—

I looked away. I didn't do anything. I was embarrassed and ashamed—even Sakura tried!

—"You may have figured everything out, but you did not acquire a bell."

I glanced at my teammates. Sakura and Naruto looked as good as I did. Sasuke, well, normally I would've laughed at his situation, but now wasn't the time.

"Missions are done in groups. It's true that ninja's need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that's important. An individual action that disrupts that teamwork will result in danger or even death for teammates." Kakashi reached into his kunai pouch, I think I was the only one really watching.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai and placed it by Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!"

Naruto and Sakura gasped. My eyes widened for second, but then I realized sensei would never really hurt one of us. Right?

"That's what will happen," Kakashi took the kunai off of Sasuke's neck.

"You scared me," Sakura sighed. Naruto also let go the breath he'd been holding.

"If someone is taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision and someone will die," Kakashi said as he twirled the kunai around on his hand.

"In every mission, you put your life on the line," he put away the kunai and stood. He walked over to a memorial stone. "Look at this…The numerous names carved into this stone. All these names are those praised heroes in our village."

"I like that! I like that! I've decided I'm going to have my name carved into that stone!" Naruto yelled excitedly. "A hero! I'm going to be a hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!"

I looked at my blonde friend sadly. …_Naruto…_

"But they're not normal heroes," Kakashi looked at Naruto.

"So, what kind of heroes are they?" Naruto asked. Kakashi was silent. "Come on, tell me."

"They are K.I.A."

"K.I.A.?" Naruto asked, still not understanding.

"It means Killed In Action," I said, staring at Kakashi-sensei. I don't know how, but somehow I knew some of his friends were on that stone. He'd never gotten over it.

"This is a memorial. The names of my closest friends are engraved upon this stone," Kakashi spoke sadly.

I inhaled sharply. _So he __**does**__ have friends there._

"I'll give you one more chance," Kakashi said suddenly. He turned around to face us. "However, the battle for the bells will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge. But don't let Naruto eat."

I looked at Naruto. _But, can I do that? Just eat in front of him while he starves?_

"This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early," Kakashi looked at Naruto. "If anyone feeds him, that person will immediately fail."

Everyone was tense.

"I'm the rule here, got it?"

_Yeah, well, you know what they say: Rules were made to be broken._

Sasuke and Sakura just ate. I didn't touch any of my food. Naruto, meanwhile, continued to rant and rave about how he could go on forever without eating.

"I'm okay, even if I don't eat!" he yelled after his stomach growled loudly. "I'm okay, I'm great, everything's perfect!" His stomach growled again.

I couldn't handle it anymore. I felt so bad. I quickly picked up some food and shoved it in his mouth. I bet he was surprised, but he sure didn't hesitate to swallow.

"Hiromi," he breathed once the food was gone.

"I know, but you need it more. Besides, I'll be the only one getting failed. I wouldn't really help the team anyhow. You guys can all try to pass the second time."

Naruto stared at me. Then another plate was shoved toward my own. It was Sasuke's.

"Here," was all he said.

"Sasuke," Sakura and I whispered. Well, actually, I whispered, Sakura actually shrieked it out, freaked out by what he was doing.

"Sasuke, Kakashi sensei said…" Sakura looked around.

"I don't sense him nearby. Don't worry. We're going to get the bells together. You two will only slow us down if you're hungry."

I looked as Sakura glanced at her own food. I smiled as she gave some of her food to Naruto as well. Maybe this team could work; maybe we weren't all too dysfunctional.

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, and lots of smoke. I stood, knowing it was Kakashi sensei, throwing all his theatrics at us.

"You all broke the rule. Are you prepared for your punishment?" he asked, doing some hands sign, making the sky grow dark. "Any last words?"

_What? Is he gonna kill us for breaking some lame rule? Come on, even I'm not stupid enough to fall for that._

"But…" Naruto stuttered. "But…But…you said! That's why they…"

"W-we are a team," I said, understanding what Naruto was trying to say.

"We're a four-man team, right?" Sasuke repeated.

"Yeah! We four are one!" Sakura stepped up.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! That's right!" Naruto yelled.

"You four are one?" Kakashi questioned. He bent down to our eye level. "You pass!" he smiled.

_Whoa. Brain fart._

"Cool." I said.

"You pass," Kakashi repeated.

"Pass? Why?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Don't question it!" I said childish, sneaking away with the food. What? I was still hungry.

"You three are the first. All the other teams were idiots that did everything I said," Kakashi explained to us.

_I have yet to see the point._ I thought as I stuffed my face.

"A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But, those that abandon their friends are worse than scum."

_That's cool._

"The exercise is over. Everyone passes. Squad Seven starts its first mission tomorrow." He actually gave a thumbs up sign.

_Who does that anymore? Ah well, he's cool, maybe he'll bring it back into fashion._

Everyone, excluding Sasuke and I, started yelling with joy. I was busy looking for a place to throw away all the trash from the lunch. It's not good to litter. Finally I found I trash can and made it back just in time to see Kakashi pull a cliché move.

"Let's go home," he said, walking off coolly. Sakura and Sasuke walked behind him. I was just about to follow when—

"Hey! You guys didn't untie me!" came from Naruto. I turned around.

"Oh." I giggled as I walked up to him. I expertly whipped out a kunai and cut the ropes.

"Come on Naruto, let's go get some ramen," I smiled.

"Okay, race ya there!" he yelled before taking off. I was stunned for a second before taking off after him.

"You cheated!"


	5. Chapter 4

**So.Just.Smile:** Okay, in the first draft of this chapter, I _was_ going to try to squeeze some lurv into it for the characters, but figured it was **way** too early, so I ended it like this. Maybe there's still a hint of love here and there, but it might just be how you perceive the writing. Anyway, I present to you **Chapter Four!**

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**Chapter Four:** C Rank Mission 

_Heh, I'm not surprised the damn cat ran away. Hell, I would too,_ I mused as the owner of a cat began to cuddle said cat to death.

"Oh, my poor little Tora, Momma was so worried about you, my little fuzzykins!" the wife of the Daimyo continued to hug her cat to death.

My eye twitched. For a second, I almost felt sorry for the thing. But, animals aren't exactly my best friends, so I didn't.

"Heh, stupid cat, he deserves to be squashed to death," Naruto chuckled.

I looked at him and grinned, "Totally."

"I can see why the poor cat ran away," Sakura commented.

I looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke shut the hell up, man! Nobody wants to hear you talk anymore!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at me and I grinned. He kept staring at me. I waved. He kept staring. My grin faded. He kept staring. I stopped waving. He kept staring. I turned away and ignored him.

The vicious cat's owner thanked us for finding her cat and then left, leaving us to get another stupid mission.

"Now then," the Hokage started, "for Squad Seven's next mission, we have several available tasks: you can baby-sit the Chief Counselor's three-year-old, help his wife with the shopping—"

"No!" Naruto interrupted. "I wanna go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting, not this little kid stuff! Come on Old Man." He moved his hands out to form an X.

"How dare you!" Iruka suddenly yelled. I stared at him wide-eyed. Iruka rarely ever got truly angry. Not only that, I had been watching him warily ever since we met up with him. The first time, I think I saw him blush when he saw me. I almost did too. Guess he hasn't exactly gotten over the whole me finding his Icha Icha book.

_Actually, what the hell is he doing here? Doesn't he have a class to teach or something?_

"You're just a brand new genin with no experience," Iruka continued. "Like everyone else, you start with simple missions to develop your skills and prove yourself."

_Baby-sitting helps improve our skills? What does it prove? That we have the patience to deal with spoiled brats?_

"What is there to improve?" I spoke unconsciously. "Can you all not see that we, this team, shall do great and terrible things?" I instantly blushed when I realized I had been speaking. I turned away when everyone began to stare at me. I don't even know why I said that.

_Kami, I'm such a weirdo._

Naruto seemed to have read my mind (At least, the ones I'd been having before I spoke), because he then shouted back at Iruka: "Are you serious? Baby-sitting is not a mission; it's just a stupid—ahh!"

Naruto was suddenly knocked to the ground after being hit on the head by Kakashi-sensei.

"Will you put a lid on it," Kakashi said lazily.

"But he's kinda right," I said in a low voice. "All we're really doing are the lame jobs that nobody wants to do themselves."

"Naruto," the Third spoke, "it seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given. Listen, many different requests come into our village every day, from baby-sitting to assassinations. These requests are carefully recorded and analyzed then ranked A, B, C, or, D, depending on their difficulty. We ninja are also ranked by ability: Hokage at the top, Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin at the bottom…"

_End it now._ I yawned and covered it up easily. Nobody pays that much attention to me. I'm like the third wheel, except I'm not. I'm more like the fourth wheel, which actually makes for a good vehicle, but then again I could be the fifth wheel if you count Kakashi –sensei, which would totally ruin everything.

_What kind of cart has five wheels?_ I wondered, picturing a vehicle with five wheels, imagining how that would work. All the while, the Hokage kept going on and on. I didn't tune back in to what he was saying; instead I started listening to Naruto who was talking to the rest of the team.

"So I had this beef ramen yesterday, so I'm thinking of having Miso ramen today," he explained what he wanted for dinner.

"I'm thinking of having beef, I had chicken last time," I added.

"Mm, yeah," Naruto nodded at me. "Wanna meet up at the Ichiraku's?"

"Okay, but just 'cause we're having dinner together does not mean I'm paying for you," I said.

"Ah, come on, please, Hiromi," Naruto pleaded, showing puppy dog eyes. I rolled my eyes, but a smile began to grace my lips. I could never resist Naruto, except when I was in a crappy mood.

"Well, okay, but I'm only going to pay for three bowls, okay?"

"Alright," he agreed.

"Silence!" the Hokage suddenly shouted out.

"Oh, sorry," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Aw, you always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something!" Naruto yelled, a bit ticked off from being interrupted. "But I'm not the little brat that used to pull pranks all the time, I'm a ninja now and I want a ninja mission!"

_Wow, Naruto, that's so mature, yet childish. How do you do it?_

I stifled a giggle as Naruto turned around, pouting, and as I heard sensei mutter to himself: "Mm, I'm going to hear about this later." I looked back to Iuka and the Third as they began to chuckle.

"Naruto wants us to know that he is no longer a brat, but a former one. He wants a mission, so be it."

Everyone looked up at the Third, to see if what he was saying was for real.

"Since you are so determined, I'm going to give you a C rank mission. You will be body guards on this mission."

Naruto gasped and turned around, "Really? Yes! Who? Are we going to guard a princess? Someone from the counsel? Who, who, who?"

"Don't be so impatient," the Hokage said with a smirk. "I will bring him in now," the Third signaled to a shinobi, "Send in our visitor."

We turned around to face the doors of the room. Slowly, a tan hand opened the door and in came a man in rather shabby clothes, drinking from a brown bottle. Suddenly, I felt myself falling. The scenery around me faded and…

_There were five figures, six counting the client._

That's more than I would like,_ the silver haired man thought. He glanced down at the ground as there was a sudden change in the scenery of it. _A puddle, but it hasn't rained for days.

_The group continued to travel when two ninja's slowly rose from the puddle. They attacked the group. It was a flash of sliver kunai, black, metal chains. The silver-haired man was dead. The other four ninja were left to fend for themselves and their client._

_The onyx-eyed boy quickly rose to the task. The two kunoichi stayed to guard the client, leaving the two shinobi to take on the opposing ninja. The blonde boy was stuck, glued to his spot. The onyx eyed boy was quick to put the rival ninja down._

_Just as the blonde was about to be injured by the enemy ninja, the sensei reappeared, saving the boy. Everyone was fine._

_The image started to fade…_

I slowly shook my head, trying to keep anyone from noticing. _We're going to be attacked by other shinobi, but why? It's because of this man, I know it._

I glanced at the man as he started to speak, "What the…? A bunch of little, snot-nosed kids?" were the first words out of his mouth. He began to take several large gulps from the brown bottle in his hand. Afterwards, he stopped and leaned against the frame of the door. "And you two, the short ones with the idiotic look on your faces, do you really expect me to believe that you two are a ninja?"

I turned to face my teammates as Naruto began laughing. "Who're the short ones with the idiotic look on their faces?" I glanced at my teammates.

Both Sasuke and Sakura stepped closer to Naruto and I. _Okay, Sasuke is the tallest, then it's Sakura…_

"But then that means…" Naruto and I said at the same time. We glanced at each other before turning to the man.

"I'll kill you!" Naruto and I yelled.

"And I'll make it look like a bloody accident, I swear I will!" I continued to try to demolish the man as sensei grabbed a hold of the hood of my jacket. I eventually calmed down as sensei spoke, as did Naruto.

"Naruto, you can't kill the client," Kakashi said sternly. I looked up at him with a gleam in my eye.

"Can I, sensei?" I asked sweetly before looking at the man venomously.

"No, neither can you, Hiromi. No one is allowed to kill our client, okay?" Kakashi said, not bothering to wait for a response before letting us go.

The mysterious man took another gulp from his drink and continued, "My name is Tazuna and I'm heading back to my country for the continuation of construction on a bridge that will change our world. I need you to get me there safely, even if it cost you your own lives."

My eye twitched. "Well, that's wonderful, ain't it?"

-:-

"Hi guys!" I waved to my team as I came walking up to them.

"You're late," Naruto whined.

"Yeah, well, about that, see, there was this little kid that was being picked on and these other kids totally totaled her hair, right? So I had to go home, grab a pair of scissors, and work a little magic to give her a fabulous haircut. If I do say so myself, she looked pretty darn good," I grinned cheekily at my team.

"You're lying, aren't you," Naruto said dully. It wasn't even a question, it was a statement!

"What? No, I wouldn't lie to my team. Man, it's true, I swear," I said indignantly, although no one seemed to actually care.

_I'm off the hook? Cool_.

"All right," Kakashi-sensei started, "Now that we're all here, we can start on our way."

Not even two steps out of Konoha and Naruto starts yelling and whooping. But, I must admit, I was also excited. Neither Naruto nor I had ever stepped a single toe outside of Konoha, so this was like a whole knew adventure for us. Sadly, however, the outside world didn't seem like much. Just trees and dirt and bushes.

_Wait, what's that?! Oh, no, it's just another tree. Damn._

"Hey," the voice of our client brought my attention back to my team. "Am I really supposed to entrust my life to an idiot like that kid?"

I rolled my eyes. This old guy was really treading on my last nerve; he was an even bigger asshole than Sasuke ever was. Right about now, comparing my likeness for both Tazuna and Sasuke, I may as well be knee deep in true love with Sasuke. I mean really, at least Sasuke wasn't always complaining and being all demand-ee-like.

_And I can't forget about the attack. Note to self: watch out for mysterious puddles._ I figured it wouldn't be too hard, considering that it hadn't rained for the past few days.

"He's with me," Kakashi answered, "and I'm a jounin, so you don't have to worry."

"He's with me," I mocked quietly to myself, "nee nee nee. What about the rest of us over here? We're not inanimate objects, or at least we weren't last time I checked, ya know."

"Hey, never insult a ninja, it's a big mistake," Naruto yelled, pointing at Tazuna. "Someday I'm going to be the greatest ninja, I'm gonna be Hokage and you'll look up to me. My name's Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!"

I smirked. Naruto usually had to have the last word in arguments, or at least the last hit. He always made me smile. Or smirk. The cute little orange.

"The Hokage is this village's number one ninja, right?" Tazuna asked, taking a swig from another brown bottle.

"Yeah, and you know drinking is bad for your health and you're not exactly making a good impression on our young and susceptible minds," I answered, though the question sounded a bit rhetorical. Then I glared with a pout as Tazuna ignored me.

"I don't believe you'll ever reach that level of power," he said, his bloodshot eyes focused on Naruto.

"Shut up!" I yelled, finally fed up with this man's attitude. I blinked as I recognized another voice speaking the same words at the same time I did. I looked over at Naruto and found him staring at me. I blinked. He blinked. We nodded.

"He _is_ going to become Hokage, dammit!" I yelled.

Naruto's shout followed right after, "Yeah, and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage **ever**!"

"If he becomes Hokage," I started.

"You'll have to recognize me," Naruto finished. I smirked and Naruto grinned his trademark smile. We were sure that we'd convinced him, after all, when we double teamed him, there was just no way that he'd be able to—

"Tch, yeah right, I'll never recognize you."

"Damn," I cursed.

-:-

You wouldn't believe how boring Kakashi-sensei can be sometimes. I thought he was super cool, but then he starts going on and on about the Hokage and the other Hidden Villages. I totally zoned out.

I was so zoned out, I almost missed it. _Almost._ Luckily, I'd just decided that I'd had enough of staring at the clouds in the sky and looked towards the ground for a nice change of scenery. Right at that moment, I passed it, a small, seemingly harmless puddle. At first, I couldn't quite grasp why it through me off, but once I remembered, my nerves were on fire.

I knew that in just seconds, we'd be on our own, we'd be fighting enemy Nin. My fingers twitched, begging for a kunai. I was tempted to look behind us, but kept my eyes forward, keeping in pace with Naruto who was walking next to me.

The seconds seemed to slow till time finally stopped. I don't know how long it was before it started up again, slowly starting to catch up and play itself at regular speed, but when it did, they attacked.

My hand instantly grabbed a kunai and I jumped to protect Tazuna. They had Kakashi-sensei wrapped up and I knew what they were going to do and instantly flung the kunai, but too late! My eyes widened as I saw it happened. In real life, it was…unbelievable, there are no words to express it, to actually see someone die for the first time…But I didn't stop. Instincts and years of training led me to instantly grab another kunai.

Sasuke easily took down one ninja. The other was going for Naruto, but why wasn't he moving, why wasn't he doing anything?! No! Kakashi was here! I smiled and breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Naruto was okay, he was fine, he wasn't hurt and I was glad. I sighed and grumpily stashed my kunai away. Shoulders slumped and face mixed into an angry pout, I walked to retrieve that kunai that I had thrown earlier.

_The one that had missed by a fucking long shot…_

As you could plainly see, I was pretty pissed that all I had really done was stand there with a kunai in my hand attempting to look dangerous. The kunai, it turned out, had lodged itself into the ground near Naruto. So, after grabbing and stashing the weapon away, I walked over to make sure Naruto was okay, but before I could even ask, Kakashi-sensei answered my question.

"Naruto," he started, "Sorry I didn't get here to help you in time. You got hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that."

I quickly hopped over to Naruto and examined his hand. There was a scratch about an inch and a half long trailing along, leaking blood. It didn't look that deep, nor did it look fatal, so I wasn't worried really worried.

"Anyway, Sasuke, good job," Kakashi praised, "You too, Sakura and Hiromi, you did well."

_You did well, blah, blah, blah. The only one that really did anything was Sasuke._

So, now, I was sorta ticked at Kakashi-sensei, too, not just myself. He didn't even thank Naruto, I mean sure, he didn't really do anything, but neither did Sakura or I. We just stood there with kunai in our hands. This day was turning out to be so fantastic. Note the sarcasm. But hey, it wasn't only me, Naruto's having a pretty rough day, too, and then Sasuke went and teased him with his ultra cool skills.

Damn you Uchiha. You meanie. First, Naruto has to deal with Tazuna and his attitude, and then he got totally frozen with these Nin, now you come along. I repeat, you meanie.

"Hey," Sasuke called, looking over at Naruto with a smirk, "you're not hurt are, Scaredy-cat?"

_Dude, not cool, not cool at all._

At Sasuke's comment, I immediately began to pulverize him by making funny faces at him. What? It totally works; did you see the look on his face? You could tell he was scared, no way is he going to mess with me, nuh uh…What? What? I'm serious!

"Naruto," Kakashi suddenly called and I began to wonder if he had favorites, because he didn't seem like he was going to reprimand Sasuke for his non-teammatey remark. "These ninja had poison on their claws; we need to take the poison out of you right away."

"Whoa, wait, what?" I said, looking from Naruto to the small cut on his and back to Kakashi.

"We need to widen the wound and leech out the poison," Kakashi continued. "I recommend not moving, unless you want the poison to spread faster. By the way, Tazuna…" and he started to talk to our client.

"Oh my god!" I gripped Naruto by the shoulders. "Come on Naruto, spit it out, spit it out! You can't leave me in this world with those two," I said, pointing toward Sakura and Sasuke."

Naruto just gulped and looked back down at his hand. My shoulders slumped and looked down at the ground, my right foot starting to form circles in the dirt. Could he really die from such a small cut? I hoped not, because I really did care for Naruto. I looked up at him and saw no change in his demeanor, so I looked back down at the ground, placing a light grip on my left arm with my right.

I sort of tuned everything out as I stood next to Naruto, starting to wonder about the possibilities, what a world without him would be like. It was a very dark world, I'll tell you that, nobody was really happy or anything, just sort of sad and numb. I didn't like it. I really started hoping that Naruto would be all right. Finally, getting sick of staying in my dark and pessimistic thoughts, I started to listen to what everyone was saying.

"We should go back, and I really think we need to treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out, back at the village we can take him to a doctor," Sakura finished.

"Hm, Naruto's hand could become a problem," Kakashi sighed. "I guess we should go back to the village."

I clenched my jaw. Really, I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to the village, but thinking about Naruto once again, and the thoughts from earlier returning, I decided that it would be best. I was just about to try to talk to Naruto, figure out what he was thinking when he pulled out a kunai and dug it into his hand.

I shrieked, "Naruto, what the hell?!"

"Why am I so different," Naruto asked. "Why am I always…urgh!"

I could feel the numerous emotions emanating from him, frustration, determination, oh so many feelings, pulsing throughout the air. I gulped, wondering what Naruto was thinking, what was running through his mind.

"I worked so hard to get here, pushing myself until it hurt;" Naruto went on, "Training alone for hours, anything to get stronger, to reach my dream. I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me. I will not run away and I will not lose to Sasuke."

Naruto held his wounded hand up, "Upon this wound, I make this pledge, believe it. Bridge builder, I'll protect you with this kunai. A real ninja never gives up and neither will I. Don't you guys worry about me, I'll be fine, now let's go!"

I smiled, relieved and happy and awed. I didn't really think that Naruto could make up such speeches on the spot. He was actually really good at it, it got to me. He was still the bright little boy I'd met when I was five: determined and strong, not to mention stubborn and cute.

I giggled, "That was cool, Naruto, really cool."

"Yeah, Naruto, that was really cool how you took the poison out and all, but if you lose any more blood, you'll die," Kakashi stated.

At this new news, I frowned, "Ah, dammit, you can't get a break, can you?!"

At the same time I spoke, Naruto shrieked, "What?!"

"Be a good idea to stop the bleeding now," Kakashi said, appearing next to Naruto with some bandages.

"No, no, no, I'm too young for it to end like this," Naruto yelled, running this way and that, cradling his hand.

"Stop moving and let him fix you!" I shouted like a five-year old with a tantrum. As Naruto passed by me, I grabbed a hold of the collar of his jacket and held onto him. Kakashi-sensei then walked over and started to bandage his hand. I still held my angry pout in place, annoyed by Naruto's antics.

_My moods sure change fast,_ I suddenly thought randomly. _Maybe I'm bipolar or maybe I really do have ADD._

"Uh, um, you have a really serious look on your face," Naruto stuttered, "You're scaring me, sensei. Am I okay?"

I instantly looked at Kakashi and then Naruto's hand which was caked in drying blood. Nothing looked wrong. I tilted my head in confusion. Wait, where was the cut? Sure, it had been covered in blood, but I still should've been able to see it.

"Uh, yeah, you should be fine," he said, pulling out some bandages and wrapping them around Naruto's hand, before I could get a closer look. I pouted, and ignored the urge to rip off the bandages for another, closer look of Naruto's hand.

_Oh well, at least Naruto's okay._ I smiled and ruffled his hair. The grin that had just graced his face vanished as he tried to shoo away my hand.

"Hiromi," he groaned, "stop it!"

I giggled, "Come on," and started racing to the front of the group. He grinned and raced after me.

I was glad he was okay, because I just don't think the world would be as bright without Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage.


	6. Chapter 5

**So.Just.Smile:** Hola! Finally, I've got the next chapter out. Sorry it took so long, I've been sick, which totally sucked ass. Anyway, I was on a roll in the beginning, but my muse sort of left me hanging near the end. (Sigh) Oh well. This is what I've got. Chances are I'll go back later and change some things. I won't do that now, 'cause I'm feeling **really** lazy.

Anywho, I'd like to dedicate this to my first two reviewers: Krait and Lehrohon-hime.

Alrighty then! I give you, Chapter Five.

* * *

**Chapter Five:** Demon of the Mist 

_Typical._

That was the word of the day. Typical. Because it was so typical that I become immensely and unbelievably hyper when I needed to be that exact opposite of that. Right now, I needed to be calm, silent, and stealthy. But I wasn't.

I felt the urge to run, scream, shout, be loud and just me. But no. I couldn't even if I was allowed anyway. We were in a small boat meaning I couldn't even stand up without being yelled at for rocking the object of our transportation. I couldn't yell or shout because we were trying to reach our destination without being detected. I couldn't run around because of the mist protruded everywhere, not to mention that we were surrounded by water, and I haven't exactly mastered my chakra enough to be able to do that.

Oh, yes, we come to the mist. It's icky. It makes all the colors pastel-y. Really, I've got nothing against pastel colors, but this was far too much. I was dying over here. Even Naruto's bright orange pants and jacket weren't much again the pastel-making mist.

I continued to drum my fingers on the edge of the boat ferociously, my legs quickly moving up and down making the heels of my feet and sandals make quiet taps against the bottom of the boat. I ignored the annoyed looks from my uptight teammates, Sakura and Sasuke. When they looked away, I made faces at them.

I glared at nothing in particular. I so hated this right now! Not only was I having the internal conflict of hyperness but the whole pastel-y making colors mist was totally pissing me off. Of course, the fact that I was extremely hyper for no reason whatsoever and couldn't let it out was also contributing to that, big time. I was actually getting pissed off at nothing at all.

_Damn Sasuke and his superiority complex. Damn Sakura and her crazed hormones. Damn Naruto and his…No, I take it back, don't damn Naruto; he's the only cool one here. Damn Kakashi, but bring him back, because he's the next coolest one. Damn Tazuna, just damn him. And for the heck of it, let's damn the boat driver, too._

A grin formed on my face as my crazed, hyper thoughts continued to ravage throughout my mind. But then they stopped, as if my raging train of thought hit a brick wall. It was because there was this huge shadow that was looming over us, except it was becoming clearer as the boat got closer. My mouth dropped just a little, as I stared at the bridge. It was big. Really big.

_Oh, wow._

"Wow!" Naruto suddenly yelled. "It's huge!"

"Be quiet," the boat driver scolded and I glared at him, "I told you, no noise. Why do you think we're traveling like this, huh? Coming up the river rowing, rowing, with no engine, so they don't see us."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the boat driver. Naruto slapped his hands over his mouth and I smiled. What? He's funny.

"Tazuna," Kakashi started and we all redirected our attention to him, "Before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something. The men who are after you, I need to know why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore."

Everyone stayed silent, waiting for Tazuna to answer, when it came. I sighed and looked away from the group so they wouldn't see. As usual, my eyes glazed over, a calm look came across my face and I lost touch with reality.

_The day was clear and a group of six figures were walking on a dirt path. Well, actually, they weren't anymore. Four were gathered around a fifth member who seemed to be cuddling a white rabbit._

_The sixth member of the group was standing with his back to his comrades. He was staring out into the many trees and shrubs of the dense forest, trying to figure something out, trying to find something. The silver-haired man suddenly turned around, sensing something, and shouted to the group, "Look out!"_

_Everyone jumped to the floor to avoid getting sliced in two by what appeared to be a huge zanbato. The huge sword continued to hurl through the air until it struck a tree. Not missing a beat, a man in strange garments jumped onto the sword. He looked over his shoulders to view at the people he had just attempted to kill._

_Everyone had already risen from the ground and was currently looking at the man in the mask made from bandages. The silver-haired man eventually stepped forward with his hands in his pockets and spoke, "Well, well, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist."_

_Suddenly, the short, orange clad blonde ran forward, but was stopped by a hand jutting out. The boy looked to the silver-head man in surprise. "You're in the way. Get back," all the man said._

"_But why?" the boy yelled, angered._

"_He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league. If he's an opponent, I'll need this," and the silver-headed man reached an arm up to the headband that had been covering his left eye up. "This could be treacherous," he said._

"_Kakashi of the sharingan eye," the man named Zabuza spoke, "did I get that right? It's too bad, but you'll have to hand over the old man."_

I blinked as the images started to fade and the pale colors of reality hit me. I inhaled the mist-laden air and turned back to my team and client. Nobody had moved. The vision had taken only a second, at least in time. I glanced at Kakashi. What was it that he was hiding behind his headband? And the Sharingan, I was sure I'd heard of it, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was.

_And this man, Momochi Zabuza, what does he want with the old man? And who exactly is he?_

I looked at my teammates. They were all staring at Tazuna, so I did the same. I guess we were all still waiting for him to speak, to answer Kakashi's questions.

"Who is it?" Kakashi asked once more.

Finally, Tazuna spoke, "You know him. At least, I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world, the shipping man named Gato."

Kakashi perked up at the name…_Heh, perked. That's a funny word_…Uh; anyway, he repeated the name, "Gato? Of Gato Transport? He's a business leader, everyone knows him."

Naruto leaned forward, eager to learn more, "Who, who? What, what?" I nodded, wanting to know more, too. Sure, I've heard of a man named Gato when I sometimes passed by adults and 'accidentally' listened to their conversations, but I didn't much about the guy but his name.

"Gato is a very powerful tycoon, from a famous company, that's true," Tazuna said. "But below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations, he sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninja."

It was that one sentence. _Ninja,_ the word entered my mind and an image of Momochi Zabuza immediately entered my mind. _He wants Tazuna, I know, and I'm pretty sure he was hired by this Gato, but why?_ And I mentally begged Tazuna to continue, to explain faster.

"When Gato first set his sights on the Land of Waves," Tazuna continued, something I was grateful for, "he came to our land and used his vast wealth to take total control over our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply disappeared. In an island nation, a man who controls the sea controls everything: finance, government, our very lives. But there's one thing he fears: the bridge. When it is complete, it will join us to the land and that will break his control."

_Of course!_ I mentally cheered. _That's why he's gonna send Zabuza after us, to kill off Tazuna so the bridge won't be completed. And after that, people will probably be too scared to do anything at all! Then Mr. Gato-Power-Obsessed will be in control of everything!_

I was so proud that I had figured things out that I stopped listening to everyone for a second and just had a little party in my mind. It was awesome; I wish you had been there. Lot's of other people were and there was lot's to eat and do. There was cake and cupcakes and chips and soda and candy and party games. Oh, oh, and the circus came! And there were lions and zebras and elephants, and a guy that breathed fire and lay on needles and it was just so awesome.

So, like I said, I really wish you had been there.

But you weren't.

Oh well.

I tuned back into what everyone was talking about and my eyes widened. For some reason, Tazuna was whining like some little kid, "…he'll cry 'Granddad, I want my granddad!'"

_What the…?! What did I miss?_ I looked from Tazuna to sensei to Naruto._ Hm, oh well, it doesn't seem important._ So I just shrugged and continued to listen.

Tazuna continued, "And my daughter will condemn the ninja of the Hidden Leaves, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father and leaving her life full of sorrow. Ah well, it's not your fault, forget it."

_Wait,_ I thought, slowly looking at everyone, _is he trying to guilt trip us into continuing this mission?_

Kakashi-sensei looked at us and then raised a finger to scratch at his forehead protector, "Well, I guess we have no other choice, we'll have to keep guarding you," he ended sheepishly.

_Ah! He__** was**__ trying to guilt trip us, and he succeeded!_ I stared at Kakashi-sensei with a blank look, but then sighed and dropped my head. _Ah, well, I had already thought we were gonna finish this to the end, besides this __**is**__ now an A-rank mission, that gives us total bragging rights if we complete it and get back home._

So, eventually, after that, we went through a tunnel that was free of mist! I was so glad, no more mist; the bright colors of our clothes were back! Yeah! Ooh, and now I could see the sun! It's right there, at the end of the tunnel! Yeah, freakin' awesome! I love this now! Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Okay. Uh, anyway…

I blinked as we left the tunnel and my eyes were hit by bright sunlight. For just a second, I wondered what had happened to all the mist, but dismissed that thought. After all, I didn't like it in the first place, why bother caring where it is now? I looked around and saw various houses along the bank, along with a few trees growing out of the water. My head tilted as I began to come to terms with this new environment.

As soon as we got off the boat and Tazuna had thanked the boat driver dude, he totally went commando on us. He was all like this: "All right, now take me to my house." See?! See?! He didn't even ask us nicely, he demanded! How rude.

"You could at least say please or something," I muttered as I adjusted the straps of my backpack and began walking next to Naruto.

-:-

I blinked as Naruto suddenly dashed forward. We had left the piers a while ago, but I still couldn't see any houses up ahead, so I had no clue how far we were from Tazuna's house. I didn't bother asking, either, because I figured we'd get there when I got there. Half the walk I had spent talking to Naruto, the other half had been silent as I watched him glare at Sasuke, secretly of course, so he wouldn't get yelled at by Sakura.

Anyway, like I said, I blinked as Naruto suddenly dashed forward and started searching the area. I raised a brow at him, along with a few of my other companions. My eyes widened as he suddenly pulled out a kunai and threw it while yelling, "Over there!"

Then I sighed and my eyes went half-lidded with boredom as he pulled out another kunai and started scanning the area again. He _had_ just been glaring at Sasuke again. I guess it finally got to him and he just had to prove that he was better, which he was. I looked over at my teammates and our client to find them totally freaked out, well, except Sasuke, who was attempting to be all cool and everything.

I burst out laughing._ Oh, the looks on their faces, that's priceless! Except Sasuke, you party pooper._

"Eh, it was just a mouse," Naruto said calmly, trying to look cool. I rolled my eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"Mouse, yeah right," Sakura yelled, "Everyone can see through your stupid act, you're so obvious, it's embarrassing!"

Next was Kakashi, "Naruto," he put his hands up in an I'm-not-armed kind of way; "those are real kunai. They're dangerous."

Sasuke just did his usual 'Hn.' Meanwhile, Tazuna, who had been the most frightened and was boiling with anger right now, burst out, "Stop trying to scare me, you scruffy, little dwarf!"

Naruto, to my surprise, ignored all their comments, even Tazuna's, and continued to search the area, "Hey, is someone hiding over there? No, they're over there! Hey, hey, huh, huh!" Finally, Naruto seemed to make up his mind and threw a kunai at the bush right next to me.

I must admit, I gasped and froze in place as the kunai soared right by me. After it had passed, I slowly turned to face the bush, and then turned to face Naruto with my eye twitching. I slowly walked over to him and gave him a good knock to the head.

"Ow, Hiromi," he cried, rubbing his head which now held a small bump, "what was that for?"

"What was that for?!" I repeated. "For nearly killing me with that kunai, that's what it was for!" Sure, I was exaggerating, but hey, he almost hurt me!

I sighed and crossed my arms, turning around. I heard Sakura run over to Naruto just after I did. I turned back around to watch the scene unfold. Just because I was still a bit ticked off with Naruto, I let him get hit by Sakura. Of course, I felt bad because Sakura hit him much harder than I did.

"That's it Naruto," Sakura yelled and delivered the punch.

Naruto once again cradled his head and cried, "Why'd you do that? Someone really is following us, I mean it!"

"Yeah right," Sakura argued, "quit lying and acting like a dumb kid."

By this time, I had quit paying attention to Sakura and Naruto and instead to our sensei who was venturing through the bushes. He had just walked through the exact bush that Naruto had thrown his kunai into, actually. I watched curiously, waiting for him to tell us to do something, or bring something back.

Eventually, Sakura and Naruto walked over to Kakashi-sensei, so shrugging, I did the same, only to find a traumatized bunny with the kunai just above his head, stuck to a tree. I rolled my eyes as Sakura started yelling at Naruto again and was just about to tell her to shut her trap when I remembered something.

_That's right! He was holding the white rabbit!_ I quickly backed out of the bushes and started eyeing all the trees, searching for a being. I didn't even notice when Kakashi-sensei joined me, searching the trees, standing on my right.

I was just about to give up, when my eyes passed over a tree's branch and leaves rustled, as if someone had just tensed. My eyes backtracked to that spot and stayed glued, but after a few seconds without any movement, my eyes began to stray. It was small, but I felt and heard it, the small movement and the slight sound of someone sliding out a weapon.

My eyes turned back to the tree, wide. I looked at my teammates and yelled, "Hit the ground!" I didn't notice to see if any of them listened to me, I simply jumped down to the ground. I heard the various thumps and thuds as other bodies hit the ground, followed by whoosh as a giant sword cut through the air. I looked up only after I heard the blunt thud of the sword lodging itself into the trunk of a tree.

I rose and stared at the man standing on the sword. I dusted myself off and glared at him. _Momochi Zabuza._ I looked over my comrades, just to see if they were okay. All of them were and had just finished dusting themselves off. I blinked, however, when I looked at sensei. He was staring right at me. He nodded.

"Good job, Hiromi," he sounded so serious, all I could do was nod back. After a second, though, I had to hide a grin. I had actually been praised and I felt like I actually deserved it. I was doing well, and for that, I was proud.

"Hn," the man growled, "So the child noticed me."

"Hey, Sakura," I called and the emerald-eyed girl looked my way, "Naruto was right, someone was following us." I grinned at her and her jaw dropped, but then she got her composure back. Heh heh, another point to Hiromi, and half a point to Naruto, he _was_ right after all.

"Well," Kakashi-sensei said, going half-way back to his carefree self, "If it isn't Momochi Zabuza, the rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist."

Just as I had seen, right at that moment, Naruto dashed forward only to be stopped by Kakashi-sensei's hand. "You're in the way. Get back." For some reason, that sounded a lot harsher in reality, while it was happening, even if it was a type of warning.

"But why?" Naruto cried, just like I had 'day-dreamed.'

"He's not like the other ninja," Kakashi explained, "He's in a whole other league. If he's an opponent, I'm gonna need this," and he reached a hand up to his headband. "This could be treacherous."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye," Zabuza commented, just like I had thought, "Did I get that right?"

I hadn't seen it in the day-dream, but I did now. Right as Zabuza said the two words 'sharingan eye' Sasuke gasped and looked at Kakashi-sensei. My eyes narrowed and I berated myself. I knew why he had acted that way, but I couldn't reach to where that information was stored. I also knew about the sharingan, but I couldn't remember what that was either.

"It's too bad," Zabuza continued, "but you'll have to hand over the old man."

"Oh, is that all you want?" I suddenly spoke, my voice filled with sarcasm. "Yeah, sure take him, we don't want him, after all, all we're doing is guarding his life, right?" Then my voice filled with venom I never knew I had, "Go ahead, and just try."

I ignored the gaping looks from Naruto and Sakura, and the surprised looks from Sasuke and Tazuna. It seemed like it was only Kakashi-sensei who remained un-shocked and/or unsurprised, he simply told us to get into one of our battle formations.

"And stay out of this fight," he warned. "I taught you teamwork, now it's time to use it."

I saw Kakashi adjust his headband so that it revealed both eyes. I couldn't see what was different, however, due to the fact that I was standing behind him. Damn. I _really_ wanted to see. And what sucks is, if he hadn't walked forward to be in front of the other's he would have been standing right next to me, and I could've seen perfectly. So, once again, damn.

"Well," Zabuza spoke, "looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor."

I looked at Naruto as he began to speak, "Everyone keeps saying sharingan, sharingan, will somebody please tell me what sharingan is?!"

"Sharingan," Sasuke spoke, "a rare power. It resides in the eyes."

_AH! That's it! I remember now! It's a blood-line limit! …But…that's all I remember…heh…Damn._

Sasuke continued, "The user of this visual jutsu, or doujutsu, can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a special, rare form of doujutsu. However, there is more to the sharingan than that, a lot more."

_Aha! Yup, that's it! I totally knew all of that! I just…couldn't remember it…heh…_

"You got it right, boy," Zabuza said. I blinked as I found he was now facing us. "But you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze an opponent's technique and then copy it to the smallest detail."

_Whoa. Talk about cool…Whoa, no wait, where is this mist coming from! Ah, it's gonna make everything all pastel-y again! NO!_ I mentally slapped myself, saying that I should keep focus.

"As for you jounin," Zabuza spoke after the entire area was shrouded in a good few layers of mist, "in the assassination unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you the man who had copied over a thousand jutsu. Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja."

I stared at sensei. Who knew he was this cool?! I mean sure, when you meet the guy, you automatically know he's cool just from the aura around him, but who knew he was _this_ cool?! He's in a bingo book! He's got his own nickname! Kami, our sensei kicks ass!

"Wow," Naruto smiled, "That's so cool!"

"Freakin' awesome," I replied, grinning at him. I quieted, however, when I noticed Zabuza lean down and place his hand on the hilt of his zanbato.

"Enough talking," he said, hinting at impatience, "I need to exterminate the old man, now!"

I rushed over to Tazuna along with the rest of my team and looked at Tazuna who I just realized had been awfully quiet this whole time. He was probably trying to go unnoticed, after all, this guy wanted to kill him, so I doubted he was going to go try to make a big scene and make himself an easy target.

"So, I'll have to eliminate you first, eh, Kakashi," Zabuza asked rhetorically, as if he was talking about the weather, which had just gone from good to bad what with the mist and all. "So be it."

I blinked as Zabuza pulled his sword of out the tree trunk with ease, and then vanished from my sight. _Wow, talk about fast._ I quickly searched the area and found him…standing on the water!

"He's over there," Naruto yelled to Sasuke and Sakura, after following my eyes to the water.

"He's standing on the water!" Sakura yelled the obvious. I decided not to comment her as I began to watch Zabuza summon an amount of chakra before disappearing.

My eyes widened for a second, before I felt the adrenaline begin to pour into my veins. Soon enough, I was restless and was more cautious than usual. My hearing was much better, as was my eyesight, though that wasn't much good what with the fog and all. My fingers played with the kunai in my hand but all I could do was wait for Zabuza to show himself.

"He vanished," Naruto whispered and I had to resist the urge to tell him to shut the hell up. My nerves were on fire and were desperately calling out for something to happen. I heard Sakura call out to our sensei and my eyes immediately searched for him. I saw him taking a few steps in front of us.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi explained.

"But who is he?" Sakura asked. I rolled my eyes as my finger twitched and I nervously began to silently jump up and down on the back of my heels.

"Momochi Zabuza, the ex-leader of the mist assassination squad," Kakashi answered, not as quietly as I'd have liked him to. "He's a master of the silent killing technique."

_Okay, got it, a pro at assassination and silent killing technique. Damn, we are in for it._

"Silent?" Naruto questioned.

"As the name suggest," sensei continued, "it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast you past from this life without knowing what happened. The Sharingan cannot fully neutralize it, so don't lower your guard."

There was silence for a minute and I basked in it. I took note of the shaky breaths from Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna. Sasuke seemed perfectly fine, as did Kakashi.

"Well," Kakashi-sensei started, "If we fail, we only lose our lives."

"How can you say that?" Sakura asked, shocked.

I burst out laughing. I don't know what it was, but there was just something about how Kakashi-sensei acted so calm about this situation, yet all of us over here were practically jumping out of our skins. After the laugh, I found myself calming down, the anxiousness and fear slowly leaving me, leaving only determination, mixed with a bit of excitement, backed up by adrenaline to reside.

"The mist just keeps getting thicker," Naruto growled.

"The Land of Waves is surrounded by water, so the mist is always present," Tazuna explained.

_No duh, anyone can figure that out._

The mist continued to thicken. I blinked and I suddenly couldn't see Kakashi-sensei anymore. I shivered for some reason and suddenly an easily recognizable voice filled the air. My head turned left to right as I tried to pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Eight points," the voice started slowly, as if he was playing with us, taunting us, "the larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart. Now, which will be my attack point?"

I felt everyone tense at those words. I gripped the kunai in my hand as my eyes wept over the mist, searching for an indication as to where Zabuza could be. I suddenly felt a chakra build up. I blinked as an unexpected gust of wind swept away all the mist. I looked to see Kakashi sensei standing in front of us.

_Kai, he must have dispelled the jutsu._

I looked at my teammates. They all seemed fine, as did Tazuna—wait. Sasuke, what was up with him? He looked totally freaked, totally tense, he was shaking and his eyes were wide. My brow furrowed. I thought that of the four of us, the genin of squad seven, Sasuke would have been the most prepared, the one that was really ready for this. My eyes widened as he suddenly turned the kunai in his hands on himself.

_What the hell is he doing?!_

I hesitated, unsure of whether I should knock the weapon out of Sasuke's hand, when Kakashi-sensei called, "Sasuke!" The Uchiha looked up in surprise. "Calm down, I'll protect you with my life, all of you. I will not allow my comrades to die." Kakashi looked over his shoulder and smiled, "Trust me."

"I wouldn't be so sure," a voice chuckled. My eyes widened as I sensed a new presence among the group. I quickly grabbed Tazuna and pushed him behind me, so that now I stood between him and Zabuza, who had somehow entered the small square we had formed around the bridge-builder.

Before I knew it, we were all flying threw the air. I heard several thuds as multiple bodies hit the ground. I quickly jumped to my feet. I found Tazuna on the ground, just two to three feet from me, with Naruto a few feet farther away from Tazuna. Sasuke and Sakura were on the opposite side of us. In between the now larger square that we formed were Zabuza and Kakashi.

My eyes followed the water dripping from the wound Kakashi had brought to Zabuza. My mind raced through the jutsu I had learned of over the years. _Water clone,_ I realized. _He's a former Mist Nin. He'll use the water all around us to his advantage. Damn._

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled as another clone raced up behind Kakashi, "Behind you!"

The warning was too late. Kakashi was slashed by the second Zabuza right after destroying the second. I didn't react, already seeing that Kakashi had made a clone. Actually, I felt the urge to smirk as I saw the shocked look on Zabuza's face. Did he really think it'd be so easy to take Kakashi-sensei down?

I smile as Kakashi showed up behind Zabuza, placing a kunai at his neck. "Don't move," Kakashi demanded. "Now, it's over."

_No,_ a voice whispered in my mind, _it's not._

* * *

**So.Just.Smile:** See, the ending totally sucked ass. I'm so disappointed. Whatever. My alter-ego's will probably rant at me later and I'll end up changing it till the chapter suits my satisfaction. Till then, adios. 


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